Category Archive for: ‘NEW Skills’

On December 2, 1988 I got my best birthday gift ever:
My son Adam was born.

This is the 20th birthday we are blessed to share.

When it comes to birthday gifts, I need nothing.
I have everything and everyone that matters to me.

This year, the best gift you can give me is to give
a gift to my friends Clay and Kimberly Cotton.

If you go to http://claycotton.com you will meet Clay.
He is one of the world’s greatest boogie piano players.

Listen to “Cotton Balls” and you’ll hear what I mean.

Clay played for icons from Janis Joplin to Jimi
Hendrix, from BB King to the real King, Elvis.
He was piano man for Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry,
Grace Slick, Jim Morrison, Muddy Waters, Tina
Turner and scores of others, a “Who’s Who” of
music lore.

When you talk to Clay on the phone, his spirit
shines through. He is soulful, full of life. He
cherishes today and relishes what tomorrow brings.

You would never know Clay is a virtual quadriplegic.

MS struck in 1997, and today Clay has use only of
his brilliant mind, sight, hearing, taste, smell, speech,
and one finger he uses to type.

He has a great sense humor. He calls himself:
“The Quad Blogger!” As Clay puts it,

“Multiple Sclerosis: If you don’t have a sense of
humor, it isn’t very funny.”

The love of Clay’s life, his wife and caretaker
Kimberly has an advanced liver condition.

They are in jeopardy of losing their home.
They are wonderful people who belong together.
Their friends want to see them stay in their home.

Clay and Kimberly can use some help.

The best gift you can give me on my 54th birthday
is to contribute $54 to Clay and Kimberly, and for
your generosity you will get 28 pieces of my work,
a $1,000 bundle of goodies, the complete:

***SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE AND
CLICK THE $125 ANTHOLOGY DOWNLOAD LINK
THE $54 PRICE WILL SHOW UP AT CHECK OUT.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You’ll get dozens of hard-learned lessons, hundreds
of pages filled with proven strategies and real world
methods that have earned me a great living. These 25
special reports, articles, transcripts, coaching lessons,
training courses, essays and ebooks include:

* How to Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace
* OPC… Leverage Other People’s Customers!
* Get MEGA-Referrals (sells for $149)
* Rejection Proof Your Networking (sells for $149)
* Turn Customers into Marketing Associates
* Scratch Their ITCH… Watch People Beat a Path to Your Door!
* Why 70% of Marketing Misses the Mark
* How to Boost Sales 33% in Tough Times
* Overcome the Fear of Self-Promotion (priceless)

***SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE AND
CLICK THE $125 ANTHOLOGY DOWNLOAD LINK
THE $54 PRICE WILL SHOW UP AT CHECK OUT.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you own the Anthology, it’s a great gift for someone else.

If the Anthology does not work for you, feel free to buy
Clay a cup of coffee at http://claycotton.com using the
“CottonCare CoffeeClub” link where you can sign up
for notification, to be first-in-line for his CoffeeClub.

You can purchase Clay’s CD’s. You’ll be glad you did!
His music will uplift you, and you will uplift Clay.
You can read about Clay’s piano playing and get
some of his collector music at these pages:

In Rainmaking – Cash Flow Now, we discuss how to
win the inner game of Rainmaking, and 6 ways to
cash flow now in the outer game of Rainmaking.

In short, how to actualize your potential!

Part 1 is all about you, and how to be worth more
in the marketplace, whether you make rain or not.

Winning the inner game is essential, whatever work
you do. You want to rise above your job description
to contribute as much as you have to give to the
company your work for, whether you own it or not.

Redundant workers are vulnerable and expendable.
Results workers are valuable and in demand.

Here are TWO ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS to ask yourself
every day you go to work:

“Am I an expense, or am I an investment?”

“Do I consume more than I produce, or do
I produce more than I consume?”

How can you reframe your game from expense to
investment, then from investment to Rainmaker?

“Totally, totally mesmerizing. Absolutely fabulous.
I could have stayed with you for another six hours.
It wasn’t just informational. It was transformational.
You are incredibly sharing. It was one of the best
lectures of any type I have ever heard in my life.
Thank you so much.” — Dr. Rob Gilbert

Listen to “30 Years, 30 Lessons” as soon as you can.
You can listen here to Part 1:

Words like the best, greatest, fantastic, awesome,
life-changing and world’s leading make people
think or say,

“Yea, sure” or “Prove it” or “Just more hype.”

Superlatives can cause a negative impression.

Specific language is more credible and believable.
It’s also more palatable, potent and persuasive.

During the “30 Years, 30 Lessons” teleconference…

I explained exactly how I built millions of dollars
of intellectual and educational assets, how I sold
hundreds of thousands of dollars of them BEFORE I
even created them, and how I used OPM….

Other People’s $ — to develop, package and pay for
EVERY PRODUCT I EVER PRODUCED.

I shared three levels of listening and how deep
“soulful” listening transforms relationships in
minutes.

We demonstrated how the NEW Profit Model doubles
your revenues, halves your marketing expense and
turns customer service into profit.

We discussed how to get paid what you’re worth by
doing work that’s bigger than you are, and how you
can attract the best and brightest people by expanding
the job rather than shrinking the person.

I said why it’s essential to be an “Alchemist” today,
how to enhance your “Alchemic” ability, and why you
want to partner with someone who is an Alchemist.

I told how I grew $25 into $1.2 million in seven years,
lost $3.4 million in the next two years, made another
million in the next five years, and what I learned
you can use to boost your net worth and prevent you
from losing your shirt.

We revealed the proven and predictable NEW Game
strategy that makes YOU the compelling, chosen,
pre-eminent service provider in your marketplace.

You’ll hear how you can get at no charge my
“21 Ways to Double Your Sales” course and
GIVE IT AWAY TO OTHERS to expand your audience
and build your tribe.

I can go on but I’m sure you can see:

Specifics beat superlatives.

The beauty of making the rules is breaking the rules.

When a message is authentic, credible, heartfelt,
truthful and an honest expression that comes from
someone other than you, it can be powerful.

I shared Dr. Rob’s 43-second voice mail message
above despite a superlative word or two because, it
was a heartfelt expression of his experience being
part of the “30 Years, 30 Lessons” conversation.

Rob is a nationally acclaimed speaker, a Ph.D., a
college professor and a guy whose feedback and
wisdom I respect. I know Rob for 15 years, which
enhances the meaning and value of his words.

You’ve probably heard the story of how Liza came to
another seminar of mine three days after her first,
and when I asked her why, she said because….

“I want more of you.”

Do you think I was “on” that day?

“I want more of you” is my performance standard.
It should be yours, too.

What kind of business or career will yours be if
the people you serve want NO more of you?

What kind of relationships will you have if people
have had enough of you?

When we got two hours into the call, I asked if we
should stop or keep going.

They said keep going.
They wanted more.

So “30 Years, 30 Lessons” went for four hours.
Rob said he could have listened for six more.

I could have gone six more because sharing
knowledge, wisdom and experience is a privilege.

Like the principle of the “rice bowl” the more you
share what you know with others the more you
empty your rice bowl and create space for new.

If you withhold what you know, you cheat everyone
who can gain from your wisdom and experience.

Sharing is a deep, soulful cleanse.
It feels good.

It’s a blessing to you for giving.
It’s a gift to those who receive.

The “30 Years, 30 Lessons” teleconference was my
gift to me, to empty my rice bowl and make room
for more.

I gift it to you to add richness to your life.

Don’t put it aside because it’s four hours.
Just start listening today. Take it in chunks.

The lessons are about 3-5 minutes, so you can
glean a lot 15 minutes at a time.

I just listened to the first two hours and wrote a
list of 30 valuable lessons. When I’m done with
Part 2 I’ll send you the complete list of lessons.

About 1 hour and 18 minutes into Part 1 we discuss
what you get as a PLAYER FOR LIFE and various ways
you can capitalize with me as your PARTNER FOR LIFE.

Even if you choose not to be a Player or Partner,
listen to the strategy and game plan, and apply a
variation off this theme to your career or business.

THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO SHARE, SO I DECIDED…

To host a weekly conversation for 30-45 minutes to
discuss how to apply these lessons in real life.

[ Be sure to grab all the FREE “Play Before You Pay”
gift resources from our 30th anniversary collection ]PLAYER FOR LIFE

I became “psychologically unemployable” 30 years ago today.

Over the past 10,958 days I have started or been a partner
in more than 20 businesses, a few great successes, many
dismal busts, all priceless learning.

My mantra has always been:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE.
I SUCCEED OR I LEARN!

This mantra has enabled me to rebound from great
personal loss and professional setback. I encourage
you to eliminate “failure” from your vocabulary.

This reframe of failure mantra is posted in homes,
offices and school classrooms around the world.
Display it somewhere you can see it every day.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE.
I SUCCEED OR I LEARN!

Please join me Saturday November 1 at 11am Eastern
for a conversation about 30 life lessons and nuggets of
wisdom I have learned from 30 years in business.

I will share the good, bad, and ugly, the turning
points, mistakes made, lessons learned, wisdom
gained from 10,958 consecutive days self-employed.

We’ll talk business, values, $ and life.

We’ll go inside a few of the biggest and best deals,
and how I did them. I’ll share the MEGA lesson I
learned from LOSING $3.4 MILLION in two years,
crashing from a net worth of $1.2 million in 1988
to negative $2.2 million 24 months later.

I’ll tell you how I built my intellectual property into
a multi-million dollar asset using 100% OPM — that is,
100% Other People’s $ — and how you can do the same.

I’ll tell you about the horses in my stable, and how you
can ride one or more of them into the winner’$ circle.

I’ll reveal more about all the valuable assets inside
Player for Life, and how we can Partner for Life.

Note: Below you will find three more “Player for Life” resources to help you navigate the waters, manage change and elevate your game.

The chickens are coming home to roost, the rats are jumping ship and the cockroaches are coming out of the woodwork.

Our credit-based consumer economy is imploding under the weight of bad debt and inflated currency. The “experts” who steered us aground are grabbing their bullion and jumping ship. Profiteers who see blood in the water are circling like sharks.

Fear, loathing and panic are replacing calm, clarity and due diligence. Our primal reptile brain is overriding our rational thinking. When the emotional amygdala senses danger, it signals the limbic system to react, not respond.

Bob Prechter explains it in his book, “The Wave Principle of Human Social Behavior…”

“As a primitive tool of survival, emotional impulses from the limbic system impel a desire among individuals to seek signals from others in matters of knowledge and behavior and therefore to align their feelings and convictions with those of the group. The desire to belong to and be accepted by the group is particularly powerful in intensely emotional social settings, when it can overwhelm the higher brain functions.

“In a realm such as investing, where so few are knowledgeable the tendency toward dependence is pervasive. Trends are steered not by the rational decisions of individual minds but by the peculiar collective sensibilities of the herd. They are driven to follow the herd because they do not have firsthand knowledge adequate to form an independent conviction, which makes them seek wisdom in numbers. The unconscious says: ‘You have too little basis upon which to exercise reason; your only alternative is to assume that the herd knows where it’s going.'”

In times like this, it’s wise to heed Harvey Mackay’s sage advice,

“Beware the naked man who offers you his shirt.”

In the past week, I have gotten dozens of emails about how to profit from the coming recession using a range of notions, lotions and potions:

Become a six-figure coach.
Make a killing in licensing.
Be a highly paid speaker.
Get rich on the Internet.
Make a fortune in real estate foreclosures.
Clean up with stock timing (how’s that one working out?).

And of course, you can always count on our good friends at the Nigerian Ministry just itching to put a few million in your bank account!

They say you don’t need a product, you don’t need customers, you don’t even need intelligence. Heck, you don’t even have to work. Just follow the proven system, then sit back and vacuum up all the canoles you can imagine.

Two common refrains are, “I’m sick and tired of all the doom and gloom” and “Don’t participate in the recession.” If you think positive, turn off the TV, hang out with millionaires and billionaires, you can survive, no thrive in tough times.

But these pikers are amateurs compared to the most naked men and women of all:

The money grubbers on Capitol Hill!

These generous souls offered to give us their shirts, pants, socks and shoes, empty suits who had the chutzpah to swear with straight faces they were getting naked for us. When the smoke turned into fire then into a global inferno, we discovered these Emperors had no clothes.

Beware the naked men who offer you YOUR shirt.

If you had any doubt your elected representatives have nobody’s interest at heart but their own, that bloom is now permanently off the rose.

I am not certain about much, but after 30 years in business there is one thing I can take to the bank:

When the “con-fidence” man says, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” it’s time to bolt the door, grab my wallet and lock up my jewels.

We have nothing to fear but the government itself.

The great bank heist of 2008 disguised as a $1 trillion “rescue plan” was a cowardly act, a calculated coup, and the largest transfer of wealth in the history of humankind. We are mere pawns in their grand game of World Monopoly.

It’s not enough for them to glom a King’s ransom for themselves.
They want to own every house and hotel, Boardwalk and Park Place.

Don’t ever be fooled again that they are looking out for you.
Nobody is coming to bail you out.

YOU MUST LOOK OUT FOR AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Whether you are employed or self-employed, own the business or work there, you must think, act and behave like a “Virtual Entrepreneur.”

Step back and take a big, deep breath.
Be as Zen-like and centered as you can.

Detach your wealth from your health, or you just might lose both.

Don’t conflate who you are with what you own or owe.
Your net worth is not your self worth.

Take stock of your financial, intellectual and personal assets and liabilities.

Curtail discretionary spending on things that provide temporary gratification then lose their value. Reduce high interest debt wherever you can.

Ride your best source of cash flow and save as much as possible.

Create at least one more source of active, passive or residual income to replace any lost income, interest or dividends.

Decide whether you are a jockey (rider) or a horse (ride).

If you’re a horse, find jockeys who can ride you into mutual payoff and profit.

If you’re a jockey, find a horse you can ride.

Implement the “10% Here, 10% There” Formula:

Produce 10% more, and consume 10% less.

Don’t jump into the next hot deal, or buy the next great money making thing without being certain you are committed to working it. You don’t need the clutter of another business opportunity you won’t work or an information product to sit on your shelf and gather dust.

Make an inventory of your best, most marketable and valuable skills. Clean the slate as if you are starting all over today with all your accumulated talent, ability, experience and contacts.

Accept that what got you here may not get you there. Your best ticket to the dance may be someone else’s product or service.

Make a “hot list” of 20 people who can be a jockey or horse, open a door of opportunity or possibility, or lead you to someone who can.

Use my “Take a Millionaire to Lunch” formula.
Get crystal clear on these three things:

1 – What you do (can do, will do or want to do)?
2 – Why you do it?
3 – Who you’re looking for?

Then contact the 20 people on your “hot list” and tell them what, why and who. You are one or two degrees of separation away from who you’re looking for. It may be your “weak ties” rather than your strong ties that connect you to who and what you’re looking for.

To assist you, here are three more “Player for Life” gifts, two private live training sessions plus the “Millionaire to Lunch” / Rejection Proof Networking approach that sells for $149. Each is worth its weight in gold, especially in these uncertain and turbulent times.

1 – “How to Take a Millionaire to Lunch” and Rejection Proof Your Networking™ was an invitation only live business training with our “Champions by Choice” network marketing team.

If you direct market, network market, market online or offline, this training will eliminate rejection forever and show you how to make your marketing work in the new game of business.

People can’t take “perceived” value to the bank.
They won’t stay in a long-term relationship absent trust.
Nobody knows what the “best” solution is.

Violate these, and you create a believe-ability gap.

Perceived value makes people wonder, “where’s the beef?”
Lack of trust generates suspicion.
Claiming you have the best causes people to think, “prove it!”

If any of these are present, it’s likely game over before game starts.

According to Stephen M.R. Covey, trust is not just a soft, nice to have virtue; it’s a hard-edged economic driver. Because we’re so interdependent and there’s so much noise and clutter…

Trust is the first currency of entrepreneurs.

Trust is like health — it’s neglected and taken for granted until it’s lost.
It’s a combination of character, competence and credibility.

Here’s the state of trust according to Covey:

* 34% of Americans trust others (68% in Scandinavia)
* 49% of employees trust their senior leaders
* 76% of employees see illegal or unethical action at work
* 43% to 75% of students have cheated to get into grad school

High trust organizations outperform low trust ones by 286%.
Among the best 100 companies to work for, trust is 60%-75% of the equation.

High trust is a dividend.
Low trust is a tax.

Only 10% of us trust Congress to do what’s best for us.
Yet, we re-elect incumbents 95% of the time.

It’s no wonder we pay such a heavy leadership “tax.”

Nothing is as fast as the speed of trust.

Warren Buffett did a $29 billion deal with Walmart in 29 days based on a handshake alone, with no due diligence, after only a 2-hour meeting. Buffet gets enormous amounts done with trust. His CEOs stay on because they like being trusted by him.

My dear friend Dave Corbin, executive producer and star of the movie “Pass It On” calls me the “Mentor to the Masters” because a “Who’s Who” of experts call me for advice.

Nothing has been more instrumental in my life and my work than the high value of high trust.

When you act in the best interests of others, you inspire trust.
When you act only in your best interest, you compromise trust.

Do what’s “highest and best for all” and you become THE trusted advisor.

People like being trusted, and they crave trust in others.

Do you trust easily and readily, and inspire trust in others?
Or are you suspicious of others, and are they suspicious of you?

One of the best ways to build trust is to stop making withdrawals from the “trust” accounts you maintain with others.

The people you serve are overloaded with hype and overblown promises.
Trust sets you apart from the hypesters and hucksters.

Nothing creates confidence more quickly or effectively than the transfer of trust.

How can you create a trust dividend instead of paying trust tax?

We hear that our current financial mess is a credit crisis.

It’s more a crisis of confidence, values and trust.

We are paying a huge tax for placing confidence, value and trust in those who haven’t earned it and don’t have our best interests at heart.

How can you convert trust from a tax into a dividend?

Value your intuition.
Be better at due diligence.
Don’t be persuaded by false, fabricated or manufactured influence.